


Motivational State

by EmberForge



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, being a superhero is hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-24
Packaged: 2018-12-05 15:57:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11581344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberForge/pseuds/EmberForge
Summary: It’s not like food grew on trees. Well some of it did, but money didn’t and besides that, there aren’t many trees in New York, and anyways-Peter Parker is constantly hungry. It's kind of a problem.





	1. Chapter 1

Peter could never ignore a child crying.

He managed to track the sound down to a boy standing right outside of the new McDonald’s that had opened up on 41st Street. His dramatic entrance from the building above made the tears momentarily stop as the kid looked on in wonder. Peter smiled, though it was hidden beneath his homemade mask. “Hey buddy, what’s wrong?”

The boy sniffled. He couldn’t have been older than eight. “I… I lost my daddy!”

“Wow, that is a big problem!” Peter exclaimed. “How did that happen?”

“We were supposed to be going to the movie museum. A…and we were crossing the street, and I was followin’ behind my dad, but then some big kids ran past and pushed me over, and when I got up, he was gone!” His eyes welled up with tears again. “I tr…tried to find him, but I couldn’t, and now I’m really l…lost…”

Peter was quick to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t cry, it’s alright! I’ll help you find your dad, it’s okay,” he said, already consulting his mental map. The boy was most likely talking about the Museum of the Moving Image, which if Peter remembered right, was only a couple of blocks away. “How about we go to the museum together, and see if we can find him, alright?”

“O…okay.” The boy mumbled. Peter grabbed his hand, and together they started in the direction of the museum.

“What’s your name?” Peter asked as they walked, trying to keep the kid distracted.

“Benjamin.” 

“That’s a great name! Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Benjamin. My name is Dinosaur-Man.”

Benjamin squinted suspiciously at his chest. “But you’re wearing a spider! You can’t be Dinosaur-Man!”

Peter laughed at the tone of his voice. “Alright, alright, you caught me! My name is _actually_ Spider-Man. You’re a really smart kid, you know that?”

Benjamin smiled for the first time. “My Daddy says that, too.”

Peter kept the conversation going as they walked for a couple of blocks, asking the kid what his favorite subject in school was (History), what he liked to eat (pizza), if he had any pets (one goldfish named Cosmo), and all sorts of mindless chatter. It was when they got to the corner of 41st and 34th that Benjamin suddenly cried out, wrenching his hand from Peter’s grip as he ran into the arms of a worried looking man who had been frantically talking to a police officer. 

“Daddy!” Benjamin sobbed into the man’s jacket.

“Oh, Ben, thank God you’re okay! I was so worried…”

Peter stood off to the side, watching the two have their reunion. He felt a tightness in his chest at the sight, but he decided that it was a good feeling. He could get used to feeling like this.

He was just getting ready to head off, when suddenly he felt a hand clamp around his arm. He turned to see the police officer standing there, his expression serious. “Excuse me sir, but I need you to...”

Peter felt like a deer in the headlights. “Look, whatever you’re thinking, this isn’t-”

“Hey!”

The two looked over to see Benjamin staring at them, his face set in a tiny frown. “Let him go! Spider-Man is nice. I was lost, and he made me feel less scared and helped me find my Daddy when nobody else did.”

The boy’s father finally noticed Peter at Benjamin’s outburst. His voice was soft. “Please, officer, let him go.”

“I’m sorry sir, but you don’t know-“

“Yes, I do, and considering there are no charges to press, there’s no reason for you to detain him. Thank you for trying to help, but everything’s okay now. You can go.” The police officer frowned, but let Peter go, muttering a bit to himself before walking away.

“Thanks,” Peter told the man, reflexively rubbing his arm.

“I saw that article about you in the Bugle,” the man said, making Peter freeze again. “That newspaper is a bunch of crap, but I’m good at spotting the truth in between the lies. That was a good thing you did, saving that woman from those muggers.”

Peter’s entire body relaxed, and he shrugged. “Just trying to do what I can to help.”

“Well, I feel safer with you out there,” the man said honestly. “And I’m in your debt for what you’ve done for my family. Is there anything I can do to repay you?”

Peter waved a dismissive hand in the air. “That’s okay, it’s all-”

This time, he was cut off by his stomach rumbling. He quickly managed to recover with a chuckle and did his best to wink at Benjamin with the lenses in his mask. “Sorry, it’s almost lunch time! But really, I don’t need anything. Just get Benjamin something cool from the gift shop and we’ll be even!”

The man smiled and nodded his thanks, but Benjamin went digging into the pocket of his hoodie to pull out a bag of M&M’s, which he held out to Peter. “Here, you have them.”

Peter was momentarily stunned. “I… are you sure?”

Benjamin smiled. “Yeah. You’re a good person. You should have them. And, you sound hungrier than me!”

Peter grinned again, and this time, it was so big that he felt like it could be seen right through the mask. “Aww, thanks buddy! High five!” He raised his hand in the air, and Benjamin slapped it enthusiastically with his own before shoving the candy into Peter’s hands.

“Well, lots to be done, so little time to do it. Especially for you two! Enjoy the museum! Peter said, waving. Then, in a move that he knew would impress Benjamin, he shot his web shooters off at the nearest building, leaping into the air and swinging off.

When Peter was about a block away, he landed on the first empty rooftop he could find and pulled up the bottom half of his mask. He ripped the paper bag open, and immediately dumped about half of the candy into his mouth, savoring the sweet taste as he chewed.

Man, was he hungry.

 

\---

 

Ever since becoming Spider-Man, Peter’s hunger levels had gone way up.

Part of it was being a teenager, Peter knew. Aunt May was always making comments about his stomach being a bottomless pit, even before the bite. He was a growing boy, she said, and needed the energy to grow. Uncle Ben used to say he was just like his father in that way, eating everything in sight. It always gave Peter a warm glow, to be compared to his father, no matter what the comparison was.

After everything happened, he was still hungry, but now, the hunger was a constant presence in his life. It didn’t matter if he went out chasing criminals all night or had a lazy weekend in; if May made a home cooked meal or Peter splurged on the biggest, most heart attack inducing burger he could find: it never went away.

There was nothing he could really do about it. It’s not like food grew on trees. Well some of it did, but money didn’t and besides that, there aren’t many trees in New York, and anyways-

Well, he’d just have to deal with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna try to write a long fic. Wish me luck, and please let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

"It's hopeless, Peter."

Peter sat with Ned at their usual lunch table, the latter teen looking like a kicked puppy as he moped. It was to this sad sight that MJ walked up, a lunch tray balanced on top of a couple of books in her hands. "Sup, losers," she said, dropping the pile at the seat across from Peter and sliding him her fries. "What's up with him?" she asked, gesturing to Ned, who was slowly sinking lower and lower into his seat.

"I've failed in life," Ned said solemnly, causing her to exchange a look with Peter, whose only response was to bite into a fry and shrug when Ned wasn't looking.

"It was one Spanish test, Ned," he told his friend. "And we studied all night for it. I'm sure you did fine."

"But I forgot the word for chicken! I wrote an entire essay about how I loved to eat _hair_!"

Peter was impressed with his own ability to hold back a grin. "That was one essay question, Ned! It's not the end of the world."

_"Mi vida es terminado!"_

"See? That's not too bad!" Peter said, patting his friend on the shoulder.

Ned just groaned and buried his face in his arms in response.

Over the next ten minutes, Peter and MJ tried their best to get Ned to engage in conversation, (well, mostly Peter, though MJ didn't actively antagonize Ned or bring up the subject of Spanish again, which Peter considered a positive) but he wouldn't have it. Peter had a feeling they wouldn't see his face again until the end of lunch.

"So," Peter said after a while, eying Ned’s untouched lunch. “Are you gonna finish that?"

Ned removed one arm from his cocoon in order to push his tray towards Peter. "No. Only those who succeed get to enjoy pizza. Take it. I'm not worthy."

Peter beamed. MJ's amused snort was loud enough to cover the growling of Peter's stomach as he took a big bite of cheesy goodness.

 

\---

 

MJ snacks. A lot.

It took a while for Peter to notice it, but as he got to know her better, he realized that he hardly ever saw her without something to eat. Be it a bag of pretzels next to her notebook when she’s sketching in class or an apple she’s crunching on in the corner at decathlon practice, she’s seemingly never without food. Even in the classes where teachers have expressly forbidden eating or drinking: he’s become close enough to her to know that she doesn’t have any special dietary needs, so it must have been some aspect of her charming personality that let her get away with it. Peter had seen more than one jealous look thrown her way while everyone counted down the minutes until the lunch bell, but it had been a long time since anyone had been brave enough to question MJ on anything that she did.

Perhaps, Peter thought, he really started noticing her eating habits when she somehow started noticing his.

It was rare that Peter ever bought lunch. He always made sure to carry a bit of pocket money with him, but it was only when Aunt May had to run in early to work and there was practically no food left in the house that he did. It may have been a bit childish to have your guardian pack your lunch when you’re fifteen years old, and Peter most certainly knew _how_ to do it, but Aunt May genuinely enjoyed doing it for him. She even occasionally made the cheesy gesture of sticking a note in his lunch with some sort of encouragement, or maybe a reminder of something going on that week. He confronted her about the whole thing only once, after Flash had seen one of the notes and teased him relentlessly for still having someone pack his lunch for him. May had gotten a faraway look in her eye and made a comment about how much she missed packing Ben’s lunch for him before he went to work, and Peter never brought it up again.

Aunt May made some of the best chicken salad in Queens, but nevertheless, it was never enough to sate Peter’s appetite. Far too often, he’d find himself picking at Ned’s lunch after he finished his own, the pair of them so engrossed in some topic or another that Ned would forget about his food entirely. He never even realized just how often he was doing it until MJ actively joined them at lunch. He’d constantly pause in the middle of a conversation to see her staring at him, only to follow her gaze to the fry or piece of chicken or whatever he’d picked up from Ned’s lunch, and would slowly put it back down as he awkwardly tried to change the subject.

Then one day, the lunch ladies ran out of the vegetarian sandwiches and gave MJ a burger. When she realized she had been given meat, she immediately tried to hand it off to Peter.

He tried to tell her that he was okay, but then she gave him _the look_ and proceeded to go on a twenty minute rant about the hundreds of gallons of water needed to produce a pound of beef, the large amount of grain and land the process consumed, and the enormous carbon footprint that the industry had; how ethically she couldn’t eat it but she wouldn’t contribute to the horrendous food waste in America by throwing it out and _so help me you **will** eat it I know you’re hungry-_

Peter decided from then on out to eat whatever she wordlessly shoved in front of him. And if it happened more times in a week than was probably considered normal, neither of them said anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So last chapter was pre-Civil War, sorry if I didn't make that clear. That's just where my mind went when I thought of an introductory chapter. I'm thinking the rest will probably be post-Homecoming, though I'll try to be clearer in the text if it's otherwise.
> 
>  
> 
> I'm really surprised with all of the attention this has grabbed already! I've never had a fic this popular before. It really means a lot to see so much of a positive response. Thank you all so much!


End file.
